by Mia Fowler & Matt Okada
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Week 6 shook up the league with big upsets and some monster plays. Below we’ll look at some of the top plays from Week 6 as if we are in the film room. Enter All-22, an exclusive NFL Pro feature that allows its subscribers to watch film like the pros do. Sign up for NFL+ Premium to gain access.
What is All-22?
As the name suggests, All-22 is a wide-angle film view that allows you to see all 22 players on the field at one time. This is the film view that coaches, scouts and players use to study or review film. Because it reveals how every player is positioned during a play, it’s the most comprehensive perspective for evaluating players, schemes and game strategy. It reaches beyond what is visible on a standard broadcast.
NFL+ Premium: Top All-22 plays of Week 6
Atlanta’s offensive line has been an iron curtain all season long, and this play is no exception. With help from the OL, Bijan Robinson slips through the A-gap and past the Bills’ front seven practically unscathed. The Buffalo defense allows a league-low 32.5% of rushes between the tackles, meaning it’s very good at stopping this exact type of play. The Falcons’ offensive line, however, pulled up and said, “not today,” and Robinson, who’s having a monster year, took advantage of the moment with the longest run (and touchdown) of his career.
Behind just about every elite fantasy running back — or technically, in front of them — is a strong offensive line. Robinson’s was so good on this play, that he was a full 30 yards down the field before first contact. As a result, he was able to build up enough speed (20.17 mph to be exact) to torch Cole Bishop‘s approach angle, then easily shed his attempted tackle. From there, it was a casual stroll down the sideline for a 14.1-point fantasy play early in the game.
Perhaps the craziest part is that if you remove this play entirely, Robinson still scored 21.7 fantasy points in Week 6. He hasn’t scored fewer than 16 fantasy points in any single game this year and is the RB1 overall in points per game. It’s hard to argue there’s a better all-around player in fantasy, and he might now be a front-runner for Offensive Player of the Year.
George Pickens strikes again! Dak Prescott did a good job at dropping the ball where he needed to, but Pickens really shined here. He covered 58.03 yards on an in-breaking route with cornerback Jaycee Horn hot on his heels (committing a defensive holding penalty against him, no less). Horn’s attempt at deflecting Prescott’s perfect pass fails — he ends up eating turf — and Pickens turned and burned. Carolina’s free safety dropped into coverage, and Pickens hurdled him like he had springs in his cleats. In fact, I’m not sure we will see a cleaner hurdle this season than the one we saw from Pickens on Sunday. That extra effort earned Dallas an extra 12 yards and put the Cowboys inside the 10-yard line.
The silver (and blue) lining in CeeDee Lamb‘s absence this past month has been the breakout connection between Prescott and Pickens. Only three QB-WR duos have hooked up for more fantasy points so far this season: Sam Darnold and Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Matthew Stafford and Puka Nacua, and Jared Goff and Amon-Ra St. Brown. Prescott has logged a 134.1 passer rating and a +10.0% completion rate over expected when targeting Pickens.
Also, while you might think of the big-bodied receiver as merely a jump-ball specialist, he’s logged 173 yards after catch, with +79 YAC over expectation (second-most among wide receivers behind DK Metcalf). Among the 30 players with 40+ targets this year, Pickens’ 2.5 fantasy points per target is the top of the table. His target share may drop a little upon Lamb’s return, but the Cowboys’ offense is absolutely humming — and their defense is not — so he should remain a strong fantasy asset the remainder of the season.
The Bucs are down their two veteran receivers (Mike Evans and Chris Godwin) their star rookie (Emeka Egbuka) and their RB1 (Bucky Irving) and still are able to execute at such a high level. First-year Oregon product Tez Johnson steps up majorly here — he tops 20mph on a go route right past the Niners’ Cover 3 defense — and Baker Mayfield leads him right into the paint, which is par for the course at this point. Every week, Tampa Bay proves that it is the team to beat in the NFC.
Roughly 2.4 seconds into this play, Johnson threw his arm up knowing he had a 45-yard touchdown, and less than a second later, Mayfield locked on for the launch. The ensuing pass traveled 48.6 yards of air distance and arrived when Johnson still had 3.4 yards of separation from the nearest defender. Incredibly, Johnson snagged the ball while leaping at 19.74 miles per hour before tumbling into the end zone for the score.